The applicant herein has contemporaneously filed a related application entitled Floating Roller Lock.
This invention relates to apparatus and mechanisms which are adapted for supporting a seat or chair, and which are further adapted for facilitating rotating motion of the seat or chair.
Executive aircraft seats desirably are capable of moving rotatably about a vertical axis, and moving reciprocatingly along both lateral and longitudinal horizontal axes. Such executive aircraft seats are also preferably further capable of being selectively and alternately locked in a desired position and released for sliding or rotating motion along or about said axes to an adjusted position. Mechanical apparatus such as slides, swivels, locks, and latches facilitating the above described seat motions and functions must be housed in spaces underlying an executive aircraft seat""s seat cushion. Such mechanisms are necessarily numerous and are often bulky, and are difficultly housed within such space. A desirable known aircraft seat swivel assembly comprises rotor plates which sandwich from above and below a fixed stator mounted to a seat supporting base. The additional bulk of such stratified seat swivel assemblies gives rise to a heightened need for space economy and compactness of attached structures.
The instant inventive rotatable seat support serves all of the aircraft seat functions described above while achieving a high degree of space economy and compactness by configuring vertically paired rotating mounting plates or frames to dually serve as seat rotating means and as a seat mounting clevis.
Base support for the instant inventive rotatable seat support preferably comprises a four-legged aluminum frame having flanged feet adapted for bolted attachments to a floor of a passenger cabin of an executive aircraft. An upper surface of said frame rigidly supports a plurality, preferably six, of seat supporting posts. The seat supporting posts are preferably arranged in a regular hexagonal pattern, and have a major diagonal dimension of approximately seven inches.
The upper end of each of the preferred six posts is fixedly attached to a preferably circular stator, the stator preferably extending perpendicularly and radially outward from the six posts. Annular ball bearing races preferably respectively extend downwardly and upwardly into the upper and lower surfaces of the stator, each such race preferably nestingly receiving a multiplicity of ball bearings.
Upper and lower rotors, preferably respectively having upwardly extending and downwardly extending annular ball bearing races, nestingly receive the multiplicities of ball bearings which are similarly nestingly received by the upper and lower races of the stator. The described annular races of the stator and rotors are necessarily vertically opposed and aligned, and the preferred multiplicities of ball bearings necessarily span between said races, buffering the stator and the upper and lower rotors against frictional contact, and allowing rotating motion of the rotors with respect to the stator. Necessarily, the lower rotor comprises a post extension aperture through which the seat supporting posts vertically extend.
As an alternate to use of ball bearings, conical roller bearings which are fixedly and rotatably mounted within sloped annular races and between the stator and the upper and lower rotors, may suitably facilitate rotation. Suitably, though less desirably, high density plastic slides or lubricated metal slides may be utilized for facilitating rotating motion of the rotors about the stator.
Preferably, the upper rotor is apertured similarly with the lower rotor, the upper aperture facilitating stator access and maintenance, and reducing the weight of the upper rotor. While the upper and lower rotors are preferably configured as substantially rectangular or square plates, such rotors may be suitably alternately configured as rigid frames which include centrally located annular stator sandwiching rings.
The above described mechanical combination of a stator and upper and lower rotors beneficially forms a clevis whose base is annular, and whose arms extend radially and horizontally outward from the annular base. Distal or outer ends of the arms of such clevis are advantageously utilized for nestingly receiving seat mounting means, such means preferably comprising at least a first tongue, and preferably four tongues.
The preferred four tongues of the seat mounting means are preferably positioned at the four corners of the preferred rectangular or square upper and lower mounting plates. Each tongue preferably comprises at least a first, and preferably two, vertically extending clevis pin receiving eyes, the eyes of the tongues aligning with a second plurality of clevis pin receiving eyes extending vertically through the upper and lower plates. Common threaded bolts, smooth sided shear pins, cotter pins, screws, or rivets may suitably serve as and function as clevis pins extending through said vertically aligned clevis pin receiving eyes.
The preferred seat mounting tongues, positioned and installed as described above, advantageously dually function as spacers preventing the upper and lower rotors from respectively withdrawing upwardly and downwardly from their nesting receipts of the preferred multiplicities of ball bearings.
Where the motion an aircraft seat supported by the inventive rotatable seat support is restricted to rotation, outer ends of the tongues which are nestingly received by the clevis may directly rigidly support the seat. Preferably, for additionally facilitating horizontal seat motion, the outer ends of such tongues support seat supporting slide bar and ball bushing assemblies. Suitably and alternately, the outer ends of such tongues may support slide bar and plain bushing assemblies, slide ridge and slide channel assemblies, slide shaft and slide sleeve assemblies, roller and roller track assemblies, or ball bearing and ball bearing track assemblies, each such assembly being adapted for facilitating sliding or rolling horizontal motion of an executive aircraft seat.
Utilization of the above described clevis for nestingly receiving seat mounting means advantageously avoids mounting of seat support structures upon the upper surface of the upper rotor, promoting space economy. Additionally, the tongue and clevis seat mounting configuration provides a mechanically superior seat supporting joint.
Accordingly, objects of the present invention include achieving space economy and mechanically sound aircraft seat support by providing a rotatable seat support comprising an annular clevis having radially outwardly extending upper and lower arms, the base of the annular clevis comprising a stator which is movable rotatably with respect to inner ends of the upper and lower arms, the outer ends of the arms of the clevis nestingly receiving and retaining seat mounting means.